Blogs and Commentary

MJ: Whipple. Tampa Aiming (Very) High

The above statement is a reasonable presumption for plenty
of coaches, especially those operating in NCAA Division II, which
ranks 12 teams in its weekly poll and only has 50 or so total
programs.

But when the statement is from a coach of a start-up program
that has yet to play a varsity game, one has to decide whether he
knows something that we don't, or if he's delusional.

Since it was Rory Whipple, the head man at the University of
Tampa, which jumps into the Deep South Conference this spring, who
made the claim, one has to assume it's the former. Whipple has
created a cottage industry of building D-II programs, with the
Spartans being his third project. He started the Bryant (R.I.)
program in 2000, guiding the Bulldogs to a 75-39 record over seven
seasons. In 2008, Whipple was at the helm of the fledgling Florida
Southern team for two seasons, and the Mocs have quickly
emerged as a player in the Deep South Conference.

First year expectations aside, Tampa will have a familiar feel
for Whipple. Like Bryant, UT has a strong business curriculum,
which he was able to parlay into winning records in six of his
seven seasons in Smithfield, R.I. And he'll have one additional
selling point.

Said Whipple, with a chuckle: "Why would you want to play in the
North and freeze?"

He already has plenty of players embracing that recruiting tool.
Whipple said he had 82 players come out for the team in its first
season, including a cache of junior college players who have been
lured out of the fertile JuCo grounds in New York and Maryland. The
new coach has even broached the subject of a JV squad with the
athletic department, but regardless, the Spartans will not be
struggling for numbers in its first season, despite a relatively
quick run-up to its first season.

What could be a constraint on Whipple's talk of national
rankings is the schedule. While the South region, which has
essentially been the unfettered domain of Limestone for the past
decade, has improved over the last five seasons and now boasts
several contenders, it's still difficult to cull enough votes by
playing a strictly regional slate. According to Whipple, that's
what the Spartans will stick with in their first season. Tampa
will be playing the Saints in 2012, which leaves open the
possibility for a monumental first campaign.

Regardless, Tampa has the perfect coach at the helm. Whipple's
bona fides, which begin at Cortland and have traversed two NCAA
divisions, international competition and the high school level,
were custom made for Tampa's needs.

In this era of carefully constructed coach-speak, it's fun
having someone who will put their boastful beliefs on the record as
opposed to using nauseating banalities like "It is what it is" or
"One game at a time," among many others. Alas, Whipple's prediction
for this year is inconsequential. Whether the Spartans crack the
Top 12 this spring or not does not alter the fact that, if history
is any guide, Tampa will be among the division's elite sooner
rather than later.